Ada Lovelace Day for Schools 2014

An afternoon of inspirational science, demonstrations, futuristic technology and performance at the Royal Institution.

Six of the most engaging speakers in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) are brought together in one event to talk about their work, and share stories of their own role models on Ada Lovelace Day 2014. They will encourage students to rethink out-dated stereotypes of what a “scientist” looks like, to realise that a team of people who think in different ways is always better than a group who all think the same, and be inspired to continue studying science, technology, engineering and maths subjects into the future.

Please note, this event is designed for school groups. Home educators are welcome to bring their school age children. However, children aged 11 and under cannot be admitted into the theatre and children must be accompanied by an adult at all times whilst in the building.

Speakers and performers

Roma Agrawal

Roma Agrawal is a structural engineer from the team that built The Shard. She’ll bring stories of bridges and bridge-builders from the past and present, plus a few jelly babies too. Web – Twitter

Sarah Angliss

Credit: Tamson Chapman

Sarah Angliss is a composer, multi-instrumentalist and roboticist, who captivates audiences with her solo performances incorporating live theremin, electronic music and robots. Web – Twitter

Rachel Armstrong

Credit: Rhian Cox

Rachel Armstrong is Professor of Experimental Architecture at the University of Newcastle who creates “living” materials that have many lifelike properties, yet are not deemed truly alive. She is project leader for “Persephone” – a kind of ‘space Nature’ designed to sustain the crew of an interstellar craft, which will be assembled in Earth’s orbit within a hundred years. Web – Twitter

Hannah Fry

Dr Hannah Fry is a UCL lecturer in the Mathematics of Cities, whose TEDx talk has been viewed over half a million times. She’ll be talking about how maths can be used to predict the future. Web – Twitter

Victoria Herridge

Credit: Natural History Museum

Dr Tori Herridge studies dwarf elephants (yes they do exist!) at the Natural History Museum, and founded the “Trowel Blazers” website to celebrate women in archaeology, palaeontology & geology. Web – Twitter

Sophie Scott

Credit: Paul Clarke

Professor Sophie Scott runs the Speech Communication Laboratory at University College London, and has been finding out what happens in our brains and our bodies when we laugh. Web – Twitter

Helen Arney

Credit: Steve Ullathorne

Event host Helen Arney is a self-professed geek songstress, who writes maths and science-inspired comedy songs and performs across the UK as herself, and with “Festival of the Spoken Nerd”. Web – Twitter

ALD 2009's Pledge

"I will publish a blog post on Tuesday 24th March about a woman in technology whom I admire but only if 1,000 other people will do the same."
— Suw Charman-Anderson

Tuesday 8 October 2019 is Ada Lovelace Day, an international day celebrating the achievements of women in science, technology, engineering and maths.

With thanks to our partners

Ada Lovelace Day is dependent on the generosity of its partners, volunteers and supporters for survival. If you would like to sponsor Ada Lovelace Day, please get in touch. We would like to thank the following organisations for their support of Ada Lovelace Day and women in STEM.